a living history interview with Henry Jackson, the class of 1932, conducted by Marilyn Summers on September the 8th of the year 2005. 

We are at his home in Lawrenceville, Georgia, and the subject of our interview today is his life in general, his experiences at Georgia Tech. Mr. Jackson, it is so nice to meet you and be with you here today. Thank you. No, thank you for letting me come. I want to hear your story. 

So we're going to start with where were you born and when? 

I was born in about three and a half miles out from Lawrenceville, Georgia. In what year? 1930, 1920. Take your time. 1910. 10, 1910. And what was your birthday? 

What month and what year? 

February. February. February what? 

What day? 1910. And what day? 

February what? 20th. 

So February the 20th in 1910, three and a half miles outside of the city of Lawrenceville. Right. Your mom and daddy had you. Yeah. Were you born at home or in a hospital? 

Born at home. Born at home. 

And what were your parents doing in Lawrenceville? 

What did your daddy do for a living? 

Well, he had a lot of things in the fire. He was a busy man doing a lot of things, huh? 

Yeah. What was his main occupation? 

He was a general manager of one portion of the land. Farming? 

Land that was being farmed? 

Okay, so he was a general manager in the area? 

Yes. 

Okay, and what else did he do? 

Well, he oversaw all operations, a sawmill. A sawmill. Wow, that was a big job. Yeah, that was a big job. Okay. And they gin cotton. Oh, they gin cotton too? 

Okay, were they raising the cotton on the farm? 

Yes. 

Okay, so the whole operation. 

Now, do you remember your daddy? 

His name was? 

Yeah, I remember him. His name was C. P. Jackson. C. P. Jackson, that's right. Right. 

And when you could start remembering things, say when you were five years old, what do you remember about your daddy? 

How would you describe him to us? 

Well, you're thinking about him. Do you know if he was born in Georgia? 

I'm pretty sure he was. 

So he came from an old Georgia family. Yes. Okay. One of the remarkable things about your daddy was that he had lots of children, didn't he? 

Yes. How many altogether? 

How many children did he father? 

Twenty-one. 

Now, who would believe that? 

Am I supposed to believe you, your daddy, had 21 children? 

That's my message. Your story and you're sticking to it, huh? 

Yeah, I'll have to stick to it. 

How many came after you? 

Where were you in the lineup? 

How many younger brothers and sisters did you have? 

Well, there's two, I think. Two came after you. Yeah. 

So you were the third one from the bottom. Yeah. Which means that there were 18 ahead of you? 

Is that possible? 

My goodness. 

How many boys and how many girls? 

How many brothers and sisters did you have? 

Well, we had seven boys. I know that. And girls. The rest of them must have been girls? 

Yeah. 

Now, one of the things you told me was is that your daddy had been married twice. His first wife had how many children? 

Honey, I don't know. You don't even know, huh? 

No, I don't know. Maybe seven. Maybe seven came from the first one. Somewhere around there. Yeah. And then he married your mama. Yeah. And her name was Delphia? 

Yeah. Do you remember your mama? 

Yes, I do. She was busy. I know she was busy. 

But tell me what you remember about her. 

Well, I know one thing. She could switch you with a peach tree limb. 

If you didn't behave? 

She kept law and order, did she? 

She kept law and order. How did she cook for that many people? 

We had a maid. She was black. 

She helped your mama cook? just like the family but she looked after the Jackson family did she do you remember her name do you remember her name Annie Russell Annie Russell yeah so Annie Russell was helping your mama ride herd on how many 14 yes 14 of you you children all of them were there at one time so there were 21 14 of her own children and she fostered, she was a stepmother to seven more. Your mama was a remarkable woman, wasn't she? 

Yes, she was. She must have been very strong. She was. And very patient, because even if you have help, that's a lot of people. Every time she did a meal, it was like catering a big party, wasn't it? 

I am. Aunt Russell was a, she was a person that looked at us just like her own kids. 

So she was a part of your family? 

She was part of the family. Did she get after you if you did something wrong? 

She would. She made you behave, huh? 

That's exactly right. 

So when you grew up, did you live in a big house on a farm somewhere? 

Pretty good size house. It had to be because where would everyone go? 

Two -story house. Two-story. And a whole big old bunch of you all together, huh? 

Yeah. 

Did you get chores to do? 

Did the older children have to help out around there? 

You're telling me, man, I tell you, they got jobs. We had to watch keep the chickens out of the field. Yep. You were responsible for the livestock, for the animals that were around, huh? 

Yes. Raised chickens for eggs as well as for food? 

Yeah. And did you have a vegetable garden in addition to the big farming? 

We had a vegetable garden, too. 

What was your job? 

What do you remember being able to do when you were that youngster? 

Well, I'll tell you. The ply hands, we carried water to them. 

Okay, that was a big job. And it was always, you should have been dying halfway back. You were never fast enough? 

No, never fast enough. By the time we'd give them a drink of water, you know, they wanted nothing. 

So you had to run back, and did you have a well? 

Get some more. Did you have to pump it out of a well? 

Yes. Throw it out of a well. Draw it right out of the well. I'm thinking about the times, like when you were five years old, it was 1915. Did you have electricity on the farm? 

No, we didn't have electricity. 

So that meant there were more chores to do because you had to make sure there were wicks in the lamps and the grasses were clean. 

There was a lot of things to do in those days to keep just a regular day going wasn't there? 

We cooled our milk by lowering them with a rope running down into the well you know. Did somebody have to milk the cows to get the milk? 

Yes. 

Okay, so first of all, you had to take care of the cows, then you had to milk them, then you had to chill the milk so that it didn't spoil. Somebody probably had to make butter, because your mama wouldn't use butter. 

And a good part of her day was just getting food together to feed everybody, and plus she had to wash all those clothes. Everybody had to wear clothes. 

Now, when you were about five or six years old, did you start school? 

What was the age for starting school in those days? 

I think it was, I'm not sure about this. About? 

Maybe six or seven? 

Five, I guess. You think you went at five? 

I just guessed at it, honey. Where did you go to school? 

Jackson's Academy. Jackson's Academy? 

Was it named after your family? 

His name, my family. Did they have their own school? 

Who built the school? 

My daddy played a big role in it. He did. He believed in an education. 

Well, that was a good thing. Yeah. 

And he had enough people to educate to build his own school, huh? 

And there's a write-up in some of the papers. About Jackson's Academy? 

Jackson's Academy. 

So that's... There's only... There's one... 

It was an independent school, but did other kids get to go to it besides y'all? 

Yeah, my daddy saw all the kids around the neighborhood got to go. 

Okay, so he believed in education for everybody. Yeah. 

So they would come to school, not just your family, but everybody came. 

So how many youngsters did you have in a classroom in those days when you first started school? 

It was probably one of the old one-room schoolhouses, right? 

One room. Yeah, and all the grades were in one room? 

One room. Mm-hmm. 

So you went to one school, and when you went to the first grade, and the second grade, and the third grade, it was all the same place? 

No. I was about, I would guess at it. It's about three years. Okay. My daddy sent me to Lawrenceville High School. Okay. 

But in the early part of your career, you were at Jackson Academy. 

Now, did a teacher come from outside the area to come and teach you? 

He hired some teacher to come? 

Yeah. And did your older brothers and sisters go with you? 

We hired a teacher. And a good one, too. And your older sister helped teach, too? 

Later in the years, yes. Yeah. 

So they taught you the basics? 

Yes. Reading, writing, and arithmetic, huh? 

Exactly. And then when you got a little bit along, your dad thought you should go to the other school in town. Yeah. 

Now, how'd you get there? 

Did you walk? 

We had a car. Oh, you had a car. What kind of car? 

You remember it? 

Well, we had a Buick and a... Big old touring car? 

Was it a great big car? 

Yeah. 

Did your daddy have trucks, too, on the farm? 

Did they have a truck, too? 

Yeah, I'm sure we had a truck. I bet you had an old Ford, didn't you? 

Yeah, probably a Ford. I think that was part of the deal if you had a farm. You had to have some kind of an old truck to haul things around on. When you think back to those times, Mr. Jackson, what do you remember about your childhood? 

You remember your mama's peach tree switches. Yeah. 

What else do you remember? 

Well, I remember all about the swimming holes and things like that, you know. 

So you had good times. Had good times. Yeah. And you played with your brothers and sisters. You did get some playtime then. Oh, yeah. Yeah. 

Did you, it was country, so could you go in the woods? 

Did you get to go pick blueberries or blackberries or? 

Blackberries. Picked a lot of them. Yeah. It was a pretty happy growing up time? 

Real happy. Real happy. It's nice to think back on those days, isn't it? 

Yes, it is. You were never lonesome, were you? 

Never. Never. I can't imagine it. 

If you were one of the younger ones, all those people were ahead of you. Yeah. 

But your daddy provided well for all of you, so you had plenty to eat. I know you had plenty to do, right? 

And we had all the food. We didn't have to buy a thing. You grew everything, raised it or grew it, huh? 

Yeah. Was your mom a good cook? 

She was a good cook. Good. That's great. 

But she didn't cook much. She left it most to Aunt Ray. Aunt Belle, this Aunt Belle was a, I think she was a grand... Granddaughter? 

The boxer, what was his name? 

Oh, Charles? 

Charles. She was related to him? 

Absolutely. He was a famous man, wasn't he? 

And he came from Lawrence still. Dr. Ezra named him. Yep, Ezra Charles. Ezra Charles. Yep, heard a lot of stories about him. And she was his granddaughter or his grandmother? 

Grandmother. His grandmother, oh, okay. 

So you knew all about boxing in those days. She told you stories about that, huh? 

Oh, yeah. I'd box with him. He wouldn't hurt me. 

Well, he could have killed you, for goodness sake. He could have. Because you were just a little thin guy. I was younger than he, but not much younger. 

So he just played with you a little bit, huh? 

Yeah. 

Well, that was a fun memory for you to have. Yeah. Very fine. 

Now, somewhere along the way, as you got older, you went to Lawrenceville High School. Yeah. And you were a very good student, right? 

Yeah. Did you ever think about going to college? 

Not too early, but... As you got farther along? 

Yeah, Georgia Tech was my pride. You wanted to go to Georgia Tech. I wanted to go to Georgia Tech. And I read everything I could read that was about Georgia Tech. In the papers? 

In the papers. And did you ask your daddy if you could go to Georgia Tech? 

I don't think I did. Both. My brother. Which brother? 

Luther. Luther, okay. He's the one that went into the service. Okay. And I had good grades, and he was ready and willing to pay my way. 

Wasn't that generous of him? 

He didn't go to college, but he knew you could make a go of it then, huh? 

Yeah. Did he help your brother Harold go to college too? 

Yeah. No, he didn't. His sister. Oh, one of your sisters stepped up for Harold then. Yeah. 

So the older kids were looking after you, the younger ones then. Yeah. 

And did Harold always want to go to Georgia Tech too, or did you talk him into it? 

Who is that? 

Did you talk Harold into going to Georgia Tech, or did he always want to go too? 

Well, I think he went because I went. He went because you went. 

So we got two instead of just one. 

We got two Jacksons, huh? 

So do you remember when you came to school for the very first time? 

Think back. See if you can remember that. It was September of 1928. Were you excited? 

I imagine I was. I imagine you were too. 

Had you been away from home? 

We thought back then going to school was a lot easier than working in the field. 

So you knew you were avoiding a life of labor, huh? 

Yeah. 

So it was the first time you were away from home or had you been away from home before? 

I'd say the first time maybe. Did Harold come with you when you went or had he started a little earlier? 

He started with me. He started with you, okay. He always followed everything I did. How about that? 

I was the boss. Oh, you were the boss. 

Well, please. 

So you said this. I was the boss. They listened to me before they listened to any other children. Oh, be goodness. 

So you were in charge, huh? 

I was in charge. I was a charge man. A smart man. 

So they sent you off to school and you brought Harold along with you. Yeah. And you stayed at the school. You didn't come home every day because it was too far to come, wasn't it? 

That's right. 

Do you imagine you took the train to get there? 

Or did your daddy drive you down? 

Drove me down in the car. He drove you down in the car. Because the train went from Lawrenceville down into Atlanta, I know. Yeah. 

But you went in the car. I'm sure that's the way it was. 

Did you pack yourself a trunk or a footlocker, take your stuff with you? 

You remember doing that? 

Maybe a suitcase or something like that. Okay. And what were you expecting? 

I didn't know what to expect. 

So you got a room? 

So I got down to Atlanta, and, you know, Fireforks is sort of a popular place. Yep, Five Points. Five Points. Yeah. And I was afraid to step off the corner, afraid I'd get lost. 

You might get run over by something, huh? 

There was a lot of people down there compared to Lawrenceville, wasn't there? 

You're right. 

But did you get a good room in Knoll's Dormitory? 

I had a good room. Do you remember it? 

Tell me what was in your room. What can you remember if you think about that? 

Honey, I don't know what I can remember or not. Was Harold your roommate? 

Yeah. 

So the two of you boys were there, the Jackson boys? 

Yeah. And you were right by the stadium. That's right. You could look out the window. was right behind the building there, didn't you? 

And the tower was right across the quadrangle, so you could see the tower too. Yeah. 

And do you remember how you registered? 

I mean, did they tell you what classes when you got there you were going to take? 

They just say you're going to take English, you're going to take physics, you're going to take math? 

We had to tell them what we were going to major in. And what did you choose? 

I chose accounting and finance. Okay. 

So that would give you a degree in commerce. Yeah. 

So you had accounting and finance. 

But you had to take more than just accounting and finance, didn't you? 

They had other classes they wanted to attend. They had a class like salesmanship or something like that. Yeah. And you took some math? 

Gosh, yeah. Gosh, yeah. That's right. 

But I had a, I had a superintendent of the grammar school, everyone that was planning on going to college, he said, I'll give you a review in mathematics and any other thing that you want to do. 

So you were well prepared then? 

I was well prepared. I got there. Mathematics didn't mean a thing, except I blew the top off with a lid. You did? 

Well, good for you. You did so good, huh? 

Yeah. 

Do you remember, what did the academic building look like when you went in it? 

Can you remember, did you climb up the stairs and go in the front door to find your classroom? 

What was it like then inside? 

Well, it was a... 

Did they have a chapel in there then? 

Do you remember that? 

They had it in the library, I believe it was. There was a chapel, and there was a small library. Yeah. And there was classrooms. Classrooms. Yeah. What teachers do you remember from that time? can you think of any of your teachers? 

Mr. Siebert. Mr. Siebert, okay. What's some other teacher? 

Who was teaching you accounting and finance? 

Fred B. Wynn. I knew you were going to say Fred B. Wynn. He was a really good teacher, wasn't he? 

He was tops. Yep. That's what I heard from the other boys. They really liked him. He offered me, he offered me to pay me, to grade the papers. 

So he was going to have you be a teaching assistant then? 

Yeah. Did you help him? 

Did you do that? 

I didn't. I don't know why, but I didn't. 

You didn't do it? 

You were a rich guy, you didn't need any money? 

I was afraid of having to teach some of the football players. I didn't want to get tied up with them. Oh, you were going to avoid that, huh? 

I want to spend my time with my books and everything. 

So you were a very focused student. You were very academic. You didn't want to get mixed up with the football players, huh? 

Not a bit. Not a bit. You knew who they were, though, didn't you? 

I knew all of them. There were some colorful characters on the campus in those days. Yeah. 

Do you remember any of them? 

Did you ever have any conversations with those football players? 

Oh, yeah, we'd go to lunch together sometimes. 

So you were good friends with them. You just didn't want the responsibility of teaching them, huh? 

That's it. That's it. Good for you. We had one, I went with one of them to the cafeteria. He had on one of these big old overcoats, big pockets, you know. And as we went in, those big pockets, they filled up about 14, 15 rolls of bread. Oh, no. He was taking food in his pocket. Oh, my goodness. Oh, my goodness. I can remember a few of their names. Do you remember Stumpy Thomason? 

Stumpy Thomason. Oh, yeah, he was a football player. Yeah. And Mother Lumpkin? 

Yeah. They had funny nicknames, didn't they? 

Father Lumpkin. Father Lumpkin, not Mother Lumpkin. That's right. Father Lumpkin. Good for you. You remembered that. They were colorful. Yes, they were. they were loud and they were colorful absolutely i bet you they wanted you to help them with their homework too when they found out how smart i don't think they ever did ask me that didn't you ask well that's good now how was harold doing in school was he doing okay he was getting along fair getting along fair he did what you told him to do right i got the toughest professors He got the ones that were tough on them. How did he know the difference? 

He didn't know the difference. 

They had a tray of cards and they took us in the chapel and they pulled out the deck, I think they just put a knife down through there and got my name. I was the first one in that group. Okay. 

So that meant you were the top of the class? 

Yeah. Because these were by grades, right? 

By grades. 

By how well you did in school? 

I don't know how they arranged it, but that's the way they did it, and Buck got Farmer Brown, and I got, I can't remember his name, I stayed in there a week, and I said, I'm I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm transferring to somewhere else. No reason for it. You didn't like the teacher for some reason? 

I don't know what it is. I've been trying to think about it. Why you did that, huh? 

But did they let you do that? 

But I made the biggest mistake. Oh, it wasn't a good idea. You should have stayed where you were, huh? 

I should have. Because what happened? 

And I'd write my themes. I told him, I said, you don't seem to like my themes. And what did he say? 

And he didn't say too much. 

But you made a big mistake. You knew you should have stayed with the other guy, right? 

Shouldn't have done it. I made a mistake. Mr. Jackson, who was Buck? 

My brother. Oh, that's who you were referring to, Harold. Sometimes you called him Buck, huh? 

Yeah. What'd he call you? 

Did you have a nickname? 

Hank. Hank. All right, now we're getting down to basics. Hank and Buck. 

Okay, got you down. 

Now tell me, first of all, I want you to tell me about Fred Wynn. He was a smart man, you said. He was real smart and fair. And fair? 

You thought he was fair? 

I say he was real fair. You learned a lot from him? 

I learned a lot from him. He was a good, good teacher, I'm told. He was going to put me on his payroll. And you passed up on that. I passed on it. 

Okay, now tell me the story about the blind boy. What class was he in? 

The blind boy. What class was he in? 

He was, I don't know the name of the class, but it was engineering. An engineering class, okay, gotcha. And uh, he... Did he have a typewriter that he... He had a typewriter. Okay. 

So he would type out his answers? 

They'd read out some statement, for instance, and is it true or false or something like that, see? 

Yes. Yes or no? 

Yes or no. And he would type the answer? 

He typed the answer. And the professor got in on it and told him to put a dot out there, yes or no. Because you guys were counting the types, weren't you? 

Shame on you. He was a smart boy, huh? 

He was a smart boy. They knew he was smart. 

So everybody's kind of follow along with that. Not you, though. You were smart, too. 

But that was a double check for you to find out how good you were doing, huh? 

Yeah. Oh, my goodness. Oh, my goodness. I want you to talk to me a little bit about, you said you went off to lunch sometimes. 

Now, where would you go eat your lunch? 

When you had a break for lunch, where would you go? 

Would you go to the Varsity? 

Probably the Varsity. Or did you ever go to the Britton Dining Hall? 

That was brand new then. 

You think you went to the Varsity most of the time? 

Well, I was right there, I was probably about 50-50. Could go to either one of them? 

Either one of them. Did you ever know Mr. Gordy, the man who owned the Varsity? 

Absolutely. Yeah, because he would have graduated in the year that you came if he'd have stayed in school. Was he pretty nice to the tech boys? 

Frank Gordy was a nice man to all the tech people. He was. He was. That's great to know. What would you eat if you went to the varsity? 

What would you order? 

I'd probably get a hot dog. 

In those days when you ordered a hot dog, did they say, what do you have, what do you have? 

Were they doing that then so So that you gave your order and then they'd say some funny thing about it? 

Like if you put a chili dog or you put a chili dog. Yeah. 

If we want chili, we call it a chili dog. Chili dog, yeah. What else could you eat there? 

Did they have onion rings in those days? 

They had onion rings. They had about anything you wanted. It was an okay place to eat then, huh? 

Good place. That's good to hear. 

Now tell me this. you had to take ROTC. Do you remember signing up for the ROTC when you got to Tech? 

I'm pretty sure I did. I'm pretty sure you did too because you had to. Had to do it. 

But did you mind it? 

No I didn't mind it. And on certain day of the week you'd wear a uniform and go drill? 

I'm pretty sure that. Yeah that's exactly what would happen. Do you ever remember hearing the whistle blow? 

Plenty of times. Tell me about your experience with the whistle. 

Well you knew instantly you better get on the deck. That meant get moving huh? 

It kept moving. 

Yeah so you'd hear it in the morning and you'd hear it before your class started and you'd hear it when your class ended? 

That's about the truth. 

So the whistle was a big part of being at Georgia Tech. Yes, it was. When you think about it, it meant get moving, huh? 

Yes. Tell me about the uncles. 

Did you ever take any shop classes? 

Did you have to take woodworking or foundry or any of those classes? 

Not unless I'd done something wrong. You mean it was a punishment? 

No, it wasn't a punishment. 

Well, if you left a little sand on the floor, something like that, you might have to get a penalty for it. Send it to the... Do you remember any of the people? 

That was in the shop, when you were working in the shop. Do you remember Uncle Heine that worked in the shop? 

Yeah. You do remember him? 

I think I do. He had a long white beard? 

Yeah. And he taught woodworking? 

Woodworking. Okay. 

Were you pretty good with the tools? 

Did you learn how to make something? 

I wouldn't say I was so good. You were better with your brain, huh? 

Yeah. Tell me this, did you get a rat hat when you joined, when you came to Tech? 

I got it. 

Got a rat hat, and what did you have to do with that? 

I put all the scores on it, the names of the teams we played. And you had to wear it, didn't you? 

You had to wear it. 

Yep, and you wore it, because if you didn't wear it, what happened? 

Well, they might stop you on the campus and with a broom, brand new broom, it says, bend over you and I'm going to teach you a lesson about dressing rights. And it busts you in the butt. And then you remembered to wear your hat. You remembered it. Yeah. I bet you didn't forget your hat very much, did you? 

No. No. 

Oh, what would happen if somebody broke the rules? 

Would they have a rat court in those days? 

Could have. No, you never had to go to rat court, though, did you? 

I would say that I did. That you didn't? 

I did go to rat court. Oh, you think you might have gone to rat court, huh? 

Right in your own apartment. Oh, they came right to the Knowles building and held the court right there? 

Yeah. Oh, mercy. That's right. 

What did they do to anybody? 

Anything much? 

Well, they might stand him up on a stack of books, and if they knocked him off, he had to get back up again. Oh, my goodness. They were bad into hazing, weren't they? 

Yeah. Yeah, they were bad into hazing. 

Well, you had some tough guys around there in those days. There were some real tough guys. Joe Westbrook. Joe Westbrook was a fine fellow, though. 

Well, they were all fine fellows, but they were pretty big guys because they were playing football. Yeah, big, big, big, big person. Yeah. 

So you listened, kind of listened to them, huh? 

Oh, yeah. 

Now, in 1929, end of 1928, you just got there. They went off to the Rose Bowl. And you were still just a freshman. Yeah. A lot of people went out to California for the Rose Bowl game. Yeah. Did you get to go? 

No. You didn't get to go. You went home for the holiday. Did you go home for the break? 

And did you listen to the game? 

I listened to the game. Tell me what you remember about that. How did you listen to it? 

Graham McNamee announced the ball game and he talked about Tom Jones. He fell on a football I saw like a hunter fell on his prey? 

Yeah. You could remember the little things he said, huh? 

Oh, yeah. 

Did you have a radio at home or were you listening on a crystal set? 

Or how were you listening? 

Probably a crystal set. Yeah, I think you had to be listening probably then. That was before everybody had radios. Yeah. And you can remember that Tech won. Oh, yeah. Wrong way Regal, right? 

Roy Regal. Yeah, poor soul. You know, he never lived it down in his whole life. No, he didn't. No, he didn't. People still talk about that game. Yeah, he ran the wrong way, they said. Yep, and Georgia Tech won the game. Won the game. Yep. 

And so when you all came back to school, Were those football players full of themselves? 

Doing what? 

Were they full of themselves? 

They thought they were pretty smart, didn't they? 

Oh, I know they did. I thought you'd say that. They run the Rose Bowl. That was pretty good, wasn't it? 

That was a big day. Yeah. At Georgia Tech. 

One of the things we remember about that was that Stumpy Thomason, the football player, brought back a bear. Yeah. Did you ever see that bear? 

Yes, I did. Did you really? 

Yes, sir. 

So you saw him? 

I saw him. And he took that bear everywhere, didn't he? 

Took it everywhere. I have a picture of that bear riding around in an old car with him. Yeah. Did he take him to classes, too? 

He probably did. He probably did. 

But I couldn't swear to it, but he probably did. 

Well, he was a star football player, so he pretty much did what he wanted to do, right? 

Yeah, he could do anything he wanted to. 

Well, one of the funny things about that is he graduated and moved away, but he left the bear there. I didn't know that. That bear stayed at Georgia Tech for eight years. Did you know that? 

That bear went to school longer than you did. Yeah. He didn't get very smart, though. No, he wasn't very smart. Coach Alex said he didn't want another one like Sloppy Thompson. It's too hard to keep in school. Yeah, he was hard to keep in school. He was older. He was much older than you were, much older than the other football players. Yeah. 

Because they kept making him take the classes over and over again, didn't they? 

He wasn't as smart as he might have been. Coach Alex was the coach then. Did you ever see him around? 

Many times. Was he a nice man? 

Very nice. 

How about a guy by the name of George Griffin? 

Did you get to see him ever? 

George Griffin, I'm pretty sure I saw him plenty of times. He was the track coach? 

Track coach. I don't recall him being the track coach, but I'm familiar with him. Sure, he was at Georgia Tech for 70 years. Yeah. He was around a long time. 

So the time that you were there on the campus was a time of a lot of traditions. You were there just at the right time for the Rose Bowl and for Stumpy's Bear. Yeah. And for the George P. Burdell. Yeah. And the Varsity. Yeah. Yeah. Britten Dining Hall. Right. And you know, before you left there, a big old theater was built, the Fox Theater. Yeah. Do you remember ever going to see the Fox? 

Oh, plenty of times. Tell me what you remember about it. 

Well, I can't remember exactly. Was it beautiful? 

Beautiful. 

Who did you go to it with? 

Huh? 

Who did you take to the movies there or to the shows? 

Some of the students. We'd go together? 

Go together. Yeah. 

When you were going to Georgia Tech in 28, 29, and 30, and 31, all those four years you were there, did you have any social life? 

Did you, like, get to go to a dance or go to football games or have any dates? 

I didn't date. You didn't date. You just studied. Studied. Didn't go to movies? 

Oh, yeah, I went to movies, yeah. Oh, you did go to the movies. Where? 

Which movie did you go to? 

Fox. At the Fox. 

Did you ever go to the movie at the Techwood Theater? 

Which one? 

The Techwood Theater, over on Techwood, across the street from the dorms. I probably did. Did you ever go to the Y, the YM Theater? 

Oh, yeah. 

What did you do over there? 

What did you do when you went over there? 

Do you remember? 

I mean, could you go over there and play pool, maybe, or billiards, or what was going on over there at that time? 

Played pool or something like that. 

So you go over there for social, a little bit of social life. 

But no dances? 

You never went to the dances? 

No, I didn't go to dances. You didn't go to dances, okay. 

What'd you do for a good time? 

Did you just study? 

You studied all? 

That's all you did was study? 

I was scared not to. 

But you were an all-A student. You were on the honor roll. Yeah. That's because you worked hard, huh? 

Yeah, you had to work hard. It wasn't easy to go to school there, was it? 

No. 

Did you help Harold? 

Did you help Buck go to school too? 

Did you keep on top of him? 

I helped him. Made sure he studied too, huh? 

Yeah. I built all the fires where we boarded. You had to build your own fires to keep warm? 

Yes. I didn't know that. 

Well, this was not... This was after you moved out of the door? 

Yeah. You went into a boarding house. Where was it at? 

Plum Street. I know where that is. A big old house? 

Big old house. And so you were the one who was in charge of keeping the house warm? 

I wasn't in charge. I took charge. That was you all the way, Mr. Jackson. The boss, huh? 

Yeah. 

When you lived in the boarding house? 

Well, after I built the fire, they moved out of the corner of the room where they could push their chairs up to the fireplace. Keep warm. Keep warm. Yeah. They loved the fire. Yeah. 

Well, they're lucky they had a bossy guy like you around to build it, aren't they? 

Yeah. 

Did you all have to cook for yourself or did somebody fix meals for you when you were in the house? 

No, our meals were furnished. That's part of the boarding house, huh? 

Yes. It probably wasn't very expensive. By today's standards, it was dirt cheap. No, it wasn't expensive at all. 

Did your daddy help pay for your expenses, or did your brother take care of everything? 

Was it Luther that gave you the money to do all that? 

Luther. Luther did it, huh? 

Well, he sure was a good guy, wasn't he? 

Absolutely. Is Luther the one that owned the grocery store? 

Yes. 

Okay, so he had Jackson's Grocery. Yeah. 

Which was right in Lawrenceville, wasn't it? 

In the summertime, you'd go and work for him and earn some money, help pay him back probably. And when we had recess or something like that, I'd pitch right in again and help. Was it a happy life for you? 

I enjoyed it. You did. 

When you think back on those days, your days in college, were they good times? 

They didn't seem to be otherwise. That's a great thing to hear you say. They didn't seem to be otherwise, huh? 

That's right. Georgia Tech was a happy school. A lot of people working hard. Right. Dr. Britton was the principal or the president at that time. He was the president. Do you remember Dr. Britton? 

Oh, yeah. He's the one who gave me the gold tee. 

Now, why would he give you a gold tee? 

What did you do? 

Well, I maintained a certain average for three years. And that was the gold? 

That was the gold. And you still have your gold tee, don't you? 

I still have it. It's right there on the wall. You won a lot of nice things while you were there. You won a lot of honors. I ran into the, to, uh, Ivan Allen, Ivan Allen, yeah, Ivan Allen Jr. was in your class, Ivan Allen had a, one of those gold tees, and I asked him, how did you get it? 

And he told me, you have to maintain a good average for three years. I don't remember whether I told him I was going to try to get it, but I probably did. And you did. You got it. And I did. I made it. You were on the honor roll every year. Yeah. 

And that's because you worked hard at it and because you're just naturally smart, huh? 

Well, a smarter, lucky one. I don't know why. Combination of all of that, right? 

Yeah. Combination. 

Well, finally you got through your four years, although you were enjoying it. The longer you stayed, the more comfortable you were, right? 

You got more confidence. Did you mind living in the big city of Atlanta? 

It didn't bother me at all. The only thing about it was I was scared to get off the corner of the street. 

So you stuck around to the campus, you didn't go venturing too far? 

No. You didn't go downtown very much? 

No. Did you ever go to Rich's? 

Oh yeah. Oh well that was downtown, so you did get downtown. 

We would pay a little old slot machine or something, they'd pick up about thirty or forty cents, you know, and then we'd go to the movie. 

So you earned your movie money, huh? 

Tony Wages, he's one of the students. He decided what we'd do with the money. I thought you were the boss. 

Well, I thought I was, but he carried us the wrong way every time. They should have listened to you. 

So you did get to go see movies sometimes that way. Oh, yeah. 

You know, one of the interesting things about going to school then is it wasn't just five days a week, was it? 

No. Something happened on Saturday, too, didn't it? 

Something happened on Saturday. And I, and I, for all the years I spent at Georgia Tech, I worked on Saturday. The whistle blew and got you up on Saturday morning, just like it did every other day. Absolutely. 

So Sunday was the only day off. Yeah. And you still studied on Sunday, I bet. Not as much. Not as much. Did you get to go to church while you were down there? 

Not too much. Not too much on Sunday mornings or early Sundays? 

Yeah. Some of the churches around there had programs for the students. Yeah. 

But for you it was just a day of not so much work. Mr. Siebert taught me law. Oh, you took some law courses, too. Okay. 

Well, it was. That was part of the commerce program. Yeah, it was. Business law. Business law. Right. Negotiable instruments and things like that, see. 

But I regret not having gone to church every Sunday. I love to go. You did. 

Well, sometimes you went and sometimes you studied. 

If you were going to go, which church would you have gone to? 

One of the ones close by? 

A bit close by, yes. We have a lot of churches close to Tech. Yeah. There's a lot of big churches right close by. Plenty of them. And I know a lot of the boys, there were special programs for them. They'd feed them. Yeah. 

If you went to church, you got fed, huh? 

Yeah. That could have been part of the attraction. They tell me tech boys will go almost anywhere for food. You think that's so? 

That's the truth. That's great. 

Well, one of the things that happened is you finally got through school in 1932. Yeah. And it was a good experience. And what was your plan? 

What were you going to do? 

Well, I didn't have a job. The soup lines were all over town. It was a tough time to live anywhere because of the depression. 

So, I went to my brother. I told him, I says, if I spend five or ten years with you, I won't be able to spell cat. What did he say? 

And I said, I'm going to make me a job. I'm going to meet the right people and get me a job. 

So I got a job with the federal government, welfare job, they had a little job open down there. And I got transferred to, to, uh, Monroe. 

So you started out working for the state of Georgia right off the bat then? 

You worked for your brother a little bit. I didn't work for the state of Georgia then. You worked for the federal government then? 

Federal government. Okay. And my major was in accounting and finance. Did they find you that kind of job? 

And I felt like that was the type of work I wanted to do. And I was going to meet somebody that would like what I do. And then I got a job organizing county welfare departments. And I got to meet the state, federal state. And that was just what you were looking for? 

That's what I was looking for and he liked my work. In fact, he hired me. 

And what year was that, that you went to work for the state? 

We figured that out before, was it 1947? 

Somewhere around there, I guess. 

So before you went to do that, you worked for your brother for a little while, and you were doing some auditing jobs for people too, weren't you? 

Yes. You were a good auditor. And then something happened, and that was World War II came along. I got deferred. You got deferred because you were working on a special project. Yes. 

But you didn't get deferred for the whole time because you spent some time in the Coast Guard, didn't you? 

You were in the Coast Guard. I see some medals up there that tell me you were in the Coast Guard. Yeah, I was in the Coast Guard. For three years? 

When I entered. And you had three years of service in the Coast Guard, right? 

Close to it. Yeah, during World War II? 

World War II. Yeah. South Pacific. You were in the South Pacific? 

Yes. I thought the Coast Guard stayed in this country. No? 

They shipped you away? 

Well, I'd say that 95% of the coast is spent overseas. Uh-huh. 

So you had quite an adventure then. Yes. I got in there and the officers liked me very much. I fell in the, when we were decommissioning, our household was in disorder. And I started working on it. I got, I got, got the records all set up and in order. And a little old sergeant came, came to see me. We had to maintain catalogs and everything. Uh-huh. And I explained to him what I did. I got us in acceptance. 

So you got them organized and on track the way they were supposed to be? 

Absolutely. 

And that's what you got your medal for? 

And I set up a file on every person, every capital of Quilba and everything. and I, I make a, the old skipper, he was checking me out for them from the catalog. Everything checked to a T. How about that? 

You got them on track, huh? 

Everything did. And I got them in, in acceptance shape. Which was great. It was, it was great. It was the, you were the right man for the job at the right time, right? 

Absolutely. Good. They didn't have the records before that. You got it all straightened out so they didn't have the records. 

And I told this little old sergeant, I said, I put it in the order and had we not done it we'd have been charged. You wouldn't have been in a, in a, in a, in a, in a, in a, in a, in a, in a good shape. I got it in the first class of T. Good for you. 

When we think back to 1946, you're finishing up with the Coast Guard, and you went out in hostile because you were telling me a story about requisitioning all that wonderful fresh produce. Oh, yeah. And all those hams and everything, how you were able to get all that stuff from them. The commissary officer, we just dropped him off to go to the States. And he'd been the man to sign the requisition, and everything would be in order. Yeah. I hadn't seen any green stuff. I hadn't seen any milk. Nothing fresh, huh? 

Nothing fresh. Except I had my eye on all that stuff take back to the ship. And the guy at the produce place, he says, just let me take care of you. 

You tell me what the confidence, what, what did, what did you have to order, right? 

He said if you give him the order, he'd take care of it? 

Yeah. And he says, can you type? 

I said, yes, I can type. but I can't sign the requisition. He said, I won't be looking at you. And you typed up some good stuff. You got back and the captain was more than pleased, right? 

Skipper said pleased. He was pleased. He was pleased. 

So pleased he wanted you to stay on in the military. He didn't want you to give up and go home, did he? 

No, he wanted to keep me. 

But you made up your mind. You were ready to go back to Lawrenceville. He knew, I knew he had all the angles of what was supposed to get the ship shaped. 

And he guaranteed me that if you'll just sign up for another tour, I guarantee you'll get a commission. And you said, I'd rather have a job in Lawrenceville. 

And these two Navy officers, I told them what all I'd do, I could handle everything, books and everything. And I said, well, you're going to have to take a test. I said, now listen. I'm overqualified as it is. Overqualified, and I'm not taking a test. That's exactly the right answer. You'd taken all the tests you needed at Georgia Tech, Haddon. Yeah. I told him, I said, you can just forget me. He said, I'll do it for nothing if necessary. 

So they went to the old man, and the old man let him have it. Really? 

The old man thought I knew all about the Navy. He didn't need to have any tests, huh? 

No, I wasn't going to take it. 

Well, you came back to Lawrenceville, and one of the things you came back to was that your mama had passed away, and somehow or other they hadn't gotten a hold of you, and that was a sad thing for you, wasn't it? 

Yes, yes, it was. 

But you did have a job. 

You went to the state of Georgia, and they hired you for the Department of Family and Children's Services. Is that correct? 

Well, I was entitled to take my old job. Old job back, because they had to save it for you. That was part of the rules. 

So you went back to work and then an interesting thing happened to you. You met Francis. Yeah. 

Now tell me how you met Francis. 

Well a friend of mine introduced me. Was it a blind date? 

Blind date. Where did you take her? 

What did you do on your first date? 

I don't remember what we did but. It must have gone well. It did go well. Did you fall in love at first sight or did it take a while? 

No, I fell in love with her. Just right off the bat, huh? 

Absolutely. How long did you court her? 

About a year. Took 10 years. I'm guessing at that. 

You're guessing, huh? 

When did you get married? 

What year? 

Do you remember? 48? 48 or 47, wasn't it? 

You didn't quarter for a whole year then, you were a little faster than you thought because you had just come back and so you got started. I took action. You took action. I called her up for a date and she said, this is the night I got to wash my hair. Oh no, you didn't get that old line. I said, listen, you're not going to get me on that one. I said, I'm going to keep tab of you right on down the line. And I didn't. You were a little bit older than her. Oh, yeah. 

So you were a very mature gentleman, and you weren't going to fool around, were you? 

No. You knew a good thing when you saw it. I did. Good for you. And so you got married to Francis. Yeah. 

And that same year you were working in your job where you were firmly established, no more wars, no anything, you're going to buckle down now and make a career. 

And you started out being what, a statistician for them, or for keeping the books, or what was it you did? 

Well, I majored in accounting and finance, that's all I was in. Right, so that's what you were doing. That's what I was doing. Did you work in Lawrenceville? 

I worked some in Lawrenceville. Then I went to Athens. Okay. And then I met this state statistician. I was never a statistician. You just worked into that area. 

And, uh, the federal government, uh, was trying to weed out, well, this federal officer, she was, she had somebody else in, in mind for, for the job, for my job. 

But, uh, they He set up a division, he called a statistical division, and this federal person didn't think I qualified. Oh, no, not again. You had to prove it to him that you did. I had, well, Charlie Doolittle was a fiscal officer. He saw, he saw right quick he wasn't going to let him roll, roll me out. Oh good. And I stayed on. For a long time. For a long time. Yeah, you sure did. And when it came time to, he retired and nominated me to take his job. And that's what you did. And that's what I did. 

You became the Director of Business Administration for the Department of Family and Children's Services. Yes. Quite a big job. 

So you were a civil servant for all of your business career. Yes. And you did a great job at all of that, too. 

Well, I hope I did. You retired with 30 -some years of service. Yeah. In 1972. Tell me about your daughters. You had two children. Yep. 

You and Francis had two children, and you were lucky enough to get daughters, weren't you? 

Very lucky. Very, very lucky. Tell me about the girls. What do you want to tell me about them? 

What's their names? 

Sandy and Nancy. Sandy and Nancy. And they take pretty good care of you, don't they? 

Perfect. It doesn't get better than perfect. And they both have gotten married. Yeah. And one of them, Sandy, is married to Mr. Roundtree? 

Yeah. Who's a tech man? 

Yeah. How about that, huh? 

Yeah. That made you happy too, didn't it? 

Nancy didn't marry a tech person. 

But she did okay. She did fine. He's a tech man all the way around. Mr. Jones. 

Okay, so you got two good son-in-laws, and you got some grandchildren, too, didn't you? 

Yeah. How many? 

Four? 

I think four, didn't you? 

That's right. Isn't that right? 

Yeah, four grandchildren, and then you're thinking about your great-grandchild. Yeah. It makes it five, but it's only four grandchildren and one great-grandchild. That's right. That's exactly right. And he's going to be a captain, I'll tell you right now. You know, he's going to be just like his great year-end daddy. He's going to be a boss, huh? 

He's going to be it. You think we can get him to come to Georgia Tech? 

I've got some pictures of Tech uniforms on. You're grooming them already, huh? 

He's going to be a Tech man, no question about it. That's great. I don't know what his name is. What's his name, your great-grandson? 

Jackson. Oh, his name is Jackson. 

Well, he definitely is going to be a... Yeah, he's going to be. Going to be your pride and joy, huh? 

He is. As all your grandchildren are. Yeah. Grandchildren and great-grandchildren. 

Now, Mr. 

Jackson, one of the neat things about you, besides the fact that you come from a family of 21 children, which is pretty amazing, besides that, you're what we call a tech fan through and through, aren't you? 

Absolutely. Absolutely. There's no question there at all. 

In fact, if I was to tell somebody I met a real Ramblin'' wreck today, I'd be right on the money, wouldn't I? 

You would be. I understand you've been going around teaching this song to people here at Arcadia. Is that true? 

Atria. Atria is called. Is that true? 

Did you ever teach anybody that song? 

I hummed it to them, I guess. 

In fact, you insist that it be played in all the sing-alongs, and there's quite a few people here who didn't even go to Georgia Tech who sing their Ramblin'' Rack song, don't they? 

Yeah. 

And you told some people that one of the things you'd like to do, if anybody could do something for you, was ride in the Ramblin'' Rack. 

Now, where did you get that idea from? 

They did. The girls? 

They figured that out. It was a secret. It was a secret? 

Yeah. Ah, I see. And somebody came along and said, hey, maybe we can make that happen for you. It happened. It happened, too. Yeah. You got to ride in the Rambling Wreck. You're going to ride in it again next week. How about that? 

I love it. Do you cheer for the Yellow Jackets? 

Absolutely. And do you love Buzz? 

Yeah. I see he's all over this room. You've got pictures of Buzz and pictures of the Yellow Jackets. 

So you're a real good fan. Yeah. And you've been a fan now. Let's see. 

What is 32 away from 2005? 73 years? 

Is that possible? 

You've been a fan for 73 years? 

It's very possible. 

Well, actually we could even say longer than that, couldn't we? 

Because you knew you wanted to go to Georgia Tech before you really came to Georgia Tech. Absolutely. 

So we'd have to go back 10 years before that probably. Yeah. When you could first start reading the newspapers. my goodness you've got it over everybody I know we're going to say not 72 years probably 82 years of being a Georgia Tech fan that's good that counts for a lot doesn't it that does thank you so much for letting me come here today and hear your story well I enjoyed it now you tell me one more time what are you are you a rambling wreck I'm a rambling wreck from Georgia Tech a **** of an engineer Bravo, bravo. Thank you for sharing with me today. It's been such a fun being with you. All right, great. You take his mic off and let's turn the air back on and get this.